Tag: economic development

Budget Preview: NER and The Important Role Played by State-funded Nonprofits in Economic Development

March 18, 2013 at 9:30 amCategory:NC Budget and Tax Center

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With the imminent release of the Governor’s budget—possibly as soon as later today—this is the last in a series of posts looking at key issues ahead in the FY 2013-15 North Carolina state budget. This post examines the Natural and Economic Resources (NER) area of the budget, the functional area that provides spending for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (DENR), Department of Agriculture, Department of Labor, the Clean Water Management Trust Fund, and a variety of programs associated with the state’s economic development efforts.  These include the Department of Commerce, the N.C. Rural Center, the N.C. Biotech Center, and about a dozen nonprofit entities that are funded as part of the Commerce-State Aid portion of the budget.

While the main story about NER in FY 2011-13 involved the dismantling of DENR’s regulatory functions and overall 49% cut in funding to the total budget area, the story for this biennium will likely involve the state pass-through funding from Commerce-State Aid to the various nonprofits engaged in economic development efforts on behalf of the state. 

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Three Questions About the MetLife Deal That Need Answers

March 8, 2013 at 4:34 pmCategory:NC Budget and Tax Center

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The big news on the jobs front the past couple days has been the announcement by Governor Pat McCrory that insurance giant MetLife has agreed to make a new $126 million investment in two North Carolina locations, resulting in the creation of 2,600 jobs.

While the news of any job creation is good news when the state’s unemployment rate is over 9 percent, the price tag attached to these jobs is causing a bit of sticker shock. The deal involves providing $87 million in Job Development Investment Grant (JDIG) incentives to MetLife over the next 12 years—the largest discretionary incentive package North Carolina has ever offered from this program.

Given North Carolina’s tight state budget and persistently high unemployment, the public needs to know as much as possible about the real costs and benefits of the deal—and whether it’s really worth $87 million in taxpayer dollars, or about $33,000 per job.

To that end, here are three questions about the MetLife deal that need answers:

Question #1—How many jobs will go to North Carolina residents? While MetLife has promised to create 2,600 jobs, how many of these employment opportunities will be open to people already living in North Carolina, and how many will be filled by moving the company’s current employees from other locations in California and New England? At a cost of $33,000 per job, it’s hard to understand the justification behind simply providing taxpayer subsidies to cover the relocation expenses of out-of-state residents, unless the overwhelming majority of these new jobs can be filled with North Carolina residents.

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LaRoque trial pushed to May

January 14, 2013 at 12:53 pmCategory:Uncategorized

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The federal trial of former state Rep. Stephen LaRoque on charges of money laundering and stealing federal funds has been pushed back to later this spring.

His trial is now scheduled for the week of May 14  in front of U.S. Senior District Judge Malcolm Howard, according to an order signed Friday by Malcolm. The previous trial date had been in February.

LaRoque

LaRoque

LaRoque, a Kinston Republican, was a state legislator in a prominent leadership role when he was indicted last July on eight counts of theft of government funds and money laundering. He resigned soon after the indictment was handed down by a Raleigh-based federal grand jury.

The federal investigation followed the publication in August 2011 of an N.C. Policy Watch investigation that found he received plush salaries, stacked the board of directors of the East Carolina Development Company and Piedmont Development Company with immediate family members and arranged loans of U.S Department of Agriculture money from his two non-profits to two other state lawmakers and other close associates.

The July indictment accuses LaRoque of using the non-profits to help fund a lavish lifestyle that included buying replica Faberge eggs for his wife, cars, a house for a step-daughters and a roller-skating rink for his family members.

A federal grand jury handed down four additional charges of fraud and tax evasion in December, and LaRoque’s defense attorney Joe Cheshire will need more time to go over new evidence, wrote Dennis Duffy, the assistant U.S. Attorney handling the case.

 

 

Continuance motion for Stephen LaRoque trial by ncpolicywatch

Poverty Tour comes to the Triangle tomorrow

July 19, 2012 at 3:45 pmCategory:Uncategorized

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For members of the media and other interested parties…

MEDIA ADVISORY: The Truth & Hope Tour of Poverty in North Carolina kicks off its Triangle-area leg TOMORROW Friday, July 20

WHAT: The Truth & Hope Tour of Poverty in North Carolina
WHEN: Friday, July 20
WHO:  The North Carolina NAACP, NC Justice Center, UNC Center on Poverty, Work and Opportunity, Institute for Civic Engagement and Social Change at North Carolina Central University, and AARP of NC
WHERE: Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill

RALEIGH (July 19, 2012) – On Friday, July 20, the North Carolina NAACP, NC Justice Center, UNC Center on Poverty, Work  and Opportunity, Institute for Civic Engagement and Social Change at  North Carolina Central University, and AARP of NC will kick off the Triangle-area leg of the “Truth and Hope Tour of Poverty in North Carolina,” a  state-wide tour of rural counties and inner city neighborhoods in which North Carolinians have struggled to find work, decent housing, transportation, and sufficient food for their families.

“This next leg of the Tour of Truth and Hope will take activists, academics, media and economists to places of poverty in North Carolina’s most prosperous region,” said Rev. Dr. William J. Barber, II, NC NAACP President. Read More…

Another national business ranking calls Tillis/Berger policies into question

July 10, 2012 at 3:48 pmCategory:Uncategorized

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CNBC is in the process of unveiling its “Top States for Business 2012″ and once again, North Carolina ranks very high. This year, we’re fourth — down from last year’s ranking of third.

This is from David Bracken at Raleigh’s News & Observer:

“The Tar Heel state ranked highest in infrastructure and technology, workforce, technology and innovation and business friendliness. The state’s ranked lower in the health of its overall economy and its quality of life.”

Got that? We rank high, as always, when it comes to “business friendliness,” but lower when it comes to “quality of life.” In other words, the conservative “let’s copy Mississippi” approach to state  development (i.e. slashing taxes even further and reducing outlays for essential public structures like education, environmental protection and preservation, the arts and urban planning has been shown, yet again, to be sadly shortsighted.